The private world of Jackie Kennedy: Rare pictures provide a glimpse of an American icon as doting mother and loyal wife

The private world of Jackie Kennedy: Rare pictures provide a glimpse of an American icon as doting mother and loyal wife

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UPDATED:

20:31 GMT, 27 July 2012

Jackie Kennedy Onassis' style, elegance and courage helped to define an era, and during the 1960 campaign and election of the future president, her legend was born.

Her many titles; First Lady, fashion icon and wife of 35th President, John F. Kennedy; created the legend that has transcended generations for over 50 years.

Now, on what would have been her 83rd birthday, a collection of rare photographs have been released, capturing her intriguing and timeless beauty from a time when she was simply known as, Jackie.

Mommy's girl: Jackie Kennedy, at the time wife of Senator John Kennedy, talks on the telephone as her young daughter Caroline mimics her at their home in Hyannis Port on on September 30, 1960

These images from Life magazine showcase the year of 1960 when John F. Kennedy and his beautiful wife were quickly becoming national, and international, celebrities.

Set beside the other prominent women in the capital, she was young, – born on July 28, 1929, making her barely 30 – chic and indefinably 'exotic' to the American people, with her Irish and French heritage.

She set a new standard for glamour in the White House, and for women worldwide, across oceans and generations, the former First Lady has continued to intrigue and inspire.

Kennedy Campaign: Jackie and the future U.S. President JFK in a car during his campaign through the mid-Atlantic states on September 15, 1960

Portrait of a lady: The future First Lady photographed sitting at a table during a campaign dinner in New York on October 1, 1960

Campaign crusade: Jackie Kennedy votes for the presidential elections with her Democratic candidate husband JFK in Boston on November 8, 1960

Whether she was campaigning in Democratic presidential primaries or sitting on the couch at home, images of the future First Lady, a title she held during JFK's presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963, will forever be an object of fascination for generations of Americans.

In her Oleg Cassini outfits, and favourite three-strand faux pearl necklace, she became the face of a new era and of a new type of American woman; using her elegance, youth, aspirational sophistication, wit and self-depreciation to capture the world.

She once said: 'The one thing I do not want to be called is “first lady”. It sounds like a saddle horse.'

Caught in a moment: Jackie Kennedy captured watching a Presidential debate between her husband and Republican nominee Richard Nixon from the wings, during October 1960

Family of the White House: Three days after the election, JFK and Jackie disembark from a plane with their daughter Caroline in Washington DC on November 11, 1960

The President took his wife’s popularity in stride, and humbly acknowledged that much of the time, he played second fiddle.

Fluent in French, she was so well received during a 1961 trip to Paris, that JFK famously joked: 'I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself – I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.'

Embodied forever in that bloodstained pink suit, she bore the grief of a nation with impressing dignity, and then guarded her privacy until she died in 1994 at age 64 from complications from cancer.